Asphalt blended with ground tire rubber (also known as crumb rubber, or recycled tire rubber) has been used extensively and has been previously described. The addition of the rubber to asphalt allows for improved performance of roads or other paved surfaces due to resistance to rutting, cracking and deformation. Furthermore, the addition of ground tire rubber can reduce road noise. Not only does the rubber improve the performance of the asphalt, it allows old tires to be recycled into a useful substance instead of piling up in tire dumps.
However, the previously known methods of blending GTR with asphalt suffered from a problem with the settling of rubber particles out of the blend. As a result, the GTR was not sufficiently distributed within the asphalt composition, thus requiring continuous agitation. The currently disclosed invention, however, provides for a method of suspending GTR in an asphalt composition such that settling of the GTR is reduced or eliminated for a period of at least 48 hours following agitation.